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The Fight Against Pride: Humbling Ourselves in a World of Competition

Pride: the root of all evil, one of the causes of the Fall in Genesis 3, the weed that silently grows inside us, and if left unchecked, will choke us out. It will lead us away from relying on the strength of the Lord. Pride is a scary temptation and one of the ways it can sneak into our lives is through the competition of everyday life.

Each day we “compete”. We strive to be the absolute best. Whether it is to be the best mom or dad, the best boss, employee, or even student. We compete with other parents through the successes of our children. We may take pride in having a son who is the starting quarterback, in having a daughter who is the lead in the school play, or even in having a student who is the smartest and has the top grade in the class.

Pursuits of excellence are not in of themselves bad or sinful, and neither is knowing and expressing what you are good at. However, when our pursuits of excellence revolve around us, the individual, and become things in which we boast, then our pursuits of excellence become sinful and prideful.

So how do we keep ourselves in check? How can we keep pursuing excellence and express our excellence without being prideful or falling into the ever so common traps of competition and comparison?

In a recent podcast (linked below) Pastor John Piper talks this through and gives four verses that speak to this very issue.

The first verse is 1Corinthians 4:6-7. The purpose of those verses are to remind us that each skill we have, and how excellent we are at them, is a gift from God. We did not earn our gifts and abilities, God has freely given them to us. And His reason for giving us those gifts, are for the good of others and the purpose of building up His kingdom.

The next verse is Jeremiah 9:23 which confronts our tendencies to boast in ourselves. this verse tells us to make sure we value God above ourselves and to focus on living life in HIS power.

Galatians 6:2-5 is used and speaks to our need, as Christians, to really bear each others’ burdens without asking for something in return. True selflessness in bearing each others’ burdens means we do it without asking for something in return, and thinking ourselves better than those we help.

Finally, Piper uses Philippians 2:3-4 to bring to our attention the need to be humble like Christ, and to count everyone else as more important than ourselves. Meaning that every gift, skill, and position we are given is by the grace of God. Those gifts should be used to further His kingdom by helping those around us without asking for something in return.

For a more in depth look at this issue, we suggest listening to the podcast linked below. It is only 11 minutes long and will prove beneficial.